About

Moonway Therapeutics is owned and operated by Elizabeth Emer, a Licensed Massage Therapist in the state of Wisconsin, graduate of the New Mexico School of Natural Therapeutics, and a 200-hour trained yoga teacher from the Himalayan Institute, where she spent a full year living in community, practicing meditation and teaching yoga. After living, learning and adventuring elsewhere around the country and the world, Elizabeth now lives in her home state of Wisconsin where she offers massage, meditation and community events out of Spiral Space Yoga Gallery in Racine. Her bodywork treatments are Swedish massage-based, blended with traditional herbal medicine and the practices + energetics of polarity therapy, shiatsu, reflexology and yoga.

Massage Therapy Benefits

Massage therapy is an excellent, safe method to deal with stress and physical aches and pains. I often call it preventative medicine, i.e. taking care of that headache before it develops into a migraine; nipping that worry or fear about this or that at the bud, before it becomes a panic attack; rather than letting your creaky neck pain become louder and louder, relieve the ache when it happens.

Specifically, research to date suggests that massage therapy may:

decrease heart rate, blood pressure and variations in heart rate

promote immune system health and function and overall well-being

increase range of motion

be helpful in reducing pain and other symptoms of fibromyalgia

increase serotonin and dopamine

improve sleep

decrease stress, depression, and anxiety

increase relaxation

improve cognitive and memory functioning

influence levels of multiple hormones including cortisol

promote well-being and an improved mind-body connection

At Moonway Therapeutics your treatment includes the use of an herbal massage oil (a handmade herbal blend with herbs known to calm the nervous system and relieve muscular aches), heat via warm towels and a table heating pad, and essential oils. Second- and third- trimester pregnant women can count on maximum relaxation by lying on their bellies on a special cushion placed over the table. Also offered and sometimes integrated into massages are reflexology and shiatsu, increasing clients' options for relaxation and pain relief. Moonway Therapeutics is located inside of the Dekoven Center, a historic building set right on Racine's lakefront complete with maintained gardens and a labyrinth.

About 'Moonway'

The name ‘Moonway’ is inspired in part by the ways of the Diné, the Navajo people of the southwest, whose lifestyle and beliefs are based on beauty and harmony. Though I can only understand from an outsider perspective (with a deep respect for the culture), I have learned through research that change is the basis of their cosmology, and accordingly their sacred ceremonies bear the word ‘way.’ Blessingway, Nightway, Shootingway. ‘Way’ is a noun, but it is active: A manner, method, or means / a way of life, a way of knowing / a route or direction / a path. Considering life in these terms has helped me make sense of my own experience: change and chaos are constant, and life IS the process. It will never be static and never should be. The image of the basket seen above was taken by Elizabeth at the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Navajo Nation, and is symbolic of the Dine universe.

The Moonway Therapeutics logo was conceived of by Elizabeth. It embodies and blends her favorite moon phase- either a waxing gibbous (seen in image to the right or below), or a waning crescent with the mysterious and beautiful golden spiral, omnipresent in so much of nature. A waxing gibbous is the phase just before the full moon while the waning crescent appears just before a new moon- representing the completion of that phase before it breaks into the abundant energy that comes with either a full or new moon. The logo as well as the 'Moonway Therapeutics' font were designed and vectored by Kat Jabobsen. Kat is a graphic designer and teaches at Carthage College. She can be found at www.artconist.com.

Like our sacred breath, the Moon is always moving, always waxing or waning. Like our moods and thoughts and bodies, it is ever-changing. The Moon teaches us receptivity, fluidity, adaptability. As a philosophy, Moonway is a way of being that embraces right-brain existence / matriarchy / collaboration / change / the numinous diversity + staggering beauty of people and life on the planet / the cycles of nature / and the belief that nourishment is the basis of optimal health. Moonway encourages inspired action, for, as in the words of the Dalai Lama “it is not enough to be compassionate, we must act.” Finally, Moonway honors the old traditions of Europe and North America that consider all of life as absolutely sacred—body, mind, spirit, and the physical elements that give rise to all of life as we know it.